The County Seat Western Freedom Festival

Utah is a unique state because 90% of the population resides in urban areas. This leaves a lot of communities in the state that are off the Wasatch Front and left without a voice when it comes to issues that impact their communities.

Rural Utah has become a museum of sorts for the Wasatch Front. These are the places we go, to escape the daily grind. However in our efforts to preserve the places we all consider special to visit, we have forgotten about the people who live in the surrounding communities.

County Commissioners from a number of these areas that are impacted have organized the Western Freedom Festival. The purpose of the event is to celebrate the heritage, customs, and cultures associated with the Western Lifestyle here in UTAH.

Much of that heritage is related directly to the land and natural resources that brought people to settle in places like Marysvale, Panguitch, Kanab, and Cedar City (among many others).

This week on the County Seat we will take a closer look at the Western Freedom Festival and its purpose. We’ll touch on issues relating to the health of the forest, current policies on publicly managed lands, and the impacts they have on rural communities.